button in SafariIndustry Insiders: Celebrities Love Danny Allen's No Tilt Poker Tables
Table Of Contents
When it comes to beards in poker, Arizona’s Danny Allen would be a strong contender for the best in the business. His nickname is “The Poker Beard” after all. Likewise, when it comes to poker tables, his company, No Tilt Poker Tables, would also contend for the best in the poker world.
Not only are No Tilt Poker Tables featured throughout The Arena Poker Room at Talking Stick Resort Hotel, but they’re also popular with celebrities such as Jelly Roll and Sean O’Malley. So, how did a single custom-made turn into a game-changing business?
PokerNews decided to find out by talking to Allen in our latest edition of Industry Insiders.
Who is Danny Allen?
Allen was born in England but moved to Florida with his family at the age of seven. He fell hard into baseball in high school and even went on to play professionally in Europe. While traveling to countless countries in a period that Allen says “really helped shape the person I am now,” Allen met the love of his life, Gia, with whom he’s been ever since.
After his baseball career wound down, Allen and Gia moved to Arizona to be close to the latter’s family. While there, Allen spent 13 years working for the military company USAA, and also had two kids, Cooper and Gibson.
As for poker, Allen’s dad taught him and his brothers when they were young.
“With my background in baseball, I have always been competitive, and poker has given me the ability to continue chasing rings, trophies, and bracelets,” he said. “I am a tournament player through and through. I enjoy playing cash occasionally, but the ups and downs and swings of tournament poker just can’t be matched! Just like everyone, I love to compete every summer in the WSOP, and I really enjoy making it out to WSOP Circuit series events whenever I can.”
Allen has won more than $445K in lifetime tournament earnings, according to The Hendon Mob. That includes a career-high score of $61,350 for finishing 59th in the 2022 WPT World Championship. More recently, Allen made a deep run in the Major Series of Poker: The Tour (MSPT) Diamond Poker Championship at Talking Stick Casino, finishing 40th out of 3,220 entries for $11,700.
No Tilt Poker Tables
While Allen is an accomplished player, he’s made a name for himself in the industry by making some of the best poker tables in the market.
“No Tilt Poker Tables simply started from the desire to have a cool poker table for myself and my home game,” Allen admitted. “I have always loved hosting, and I wanted something classy and professional. My wife and I had just purchased our first home together, and there was a perfect spot in the home for a poker table. After shopping around, it became very apparent that a cool custom poker table was just not within our budget.”
Despite having zero woodworking experience, Allen set about building his first poker table, which he soon debuted in his home game.
“Everyone couldn’t believe I had built the table myself. A couple of my regulars asked me to build them tables, and the rest is history. Over the next few years, I built close to 100 tables by hand from our garage on the weekends and in my spare time, and it became very apparent that this was something we could scale and have a lot of fun doing.”
Fast forward 13 years, and No Tilt Poker tables have done casinos and card rooms all over the country, and countless custom tables for home game enthusiasts and some of the biggest celebrities around, including Jelly Roll, Suga Sean, Aaron Donald, Cal Raleigh, and more (check out the No Tilt Poker tables Instagram for stories).
You can find No Tilt Poker tables in homes all over the United States and Canada, as well as casinos such as Talking Stick Casino and card rooms like The Lodge in Austin Texas, OG Clubhouse, and Triple Barrell Social in Kentucky, and many more.
“The biggest difference is that I am a poker player first, and my love for the game shows in our work and how we handle every single order we take,” said Allen. “I make it a point to speak with everyone who orders a custom table from us. We talk about the vibe of their game, how they want their game to feel, and we really dial in the player experience for every single customer. These are not just poker tables, they are statements of who we are, what we love, and we love the people who sit around them.”
For more info on No Tilt Poker Tables, visit notiltpokertables.com. You can follow both No Tilt Poker Tables and Danny Allen on Instagram.
